John Parsons Cook

John Parsons Cook ( born August 31, 1817 in Whitestown, New York, † April 17, 1872 in Davenport, Iowa ) was an American politician. From 1853 to 1855 he represented the state of Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

In 1836, John Cook moved with his father to Davenport in later state of Iowa. After studying law and its made ​​in 1842 admitted to the bar, he began practicing in his new profession in Tipton in the Iowa Territory. Politically, Cook was a member of the Whig party. Between 1842 and 1845 he was in the Territorial Government. After the accession to the Union, he was Iowa's 1848-1851 member of the State Senate. In 1851 he returned to Davenport, where he worked as a lawyer. In 1850 he ran unsuccessfully against Democrat Lincoln Clark for Congress.

1852 Cook was then in the second electoral district of Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC selected. There he entered on March 4, 1853, the successor of Clark, whom he had beaten in the election. Since he was not nominated for the following elections in 1854 by his party, he was able to complete up to March 3, 1855 only one term in Congress, which was overshadowed by discussions on the issue of slavery. In contrast to most of his party friends Cook was a supporter of slavery. This attitude has contributed to his non- nomination in 1854.

After the end of his time in the House of Representatives John Cook again worked as a lawyer. He also went into the banking business in Davenport. After the dissolution of the Whigs the late 1850s he became a member of the Democratic Party. But he has filled no higher political office until his death in 1872.